Old Patterns
by HowItsSupposedToBe
Summary: When Connie shows up to the Nashville season 6 wrap party, she runs into Chip after months of being apart. Bristen fic.
1. Chapter 1

There were so many people at this party. Anyone who had ever worked on the show, from PAs to actors to set designers, had showed up for this event. He was schmoozing around the room, taking selfies with anyone who wanted one. He was good at that - working a crowd, making smalltalk or talking about how much he loved this show, this city or this character. What he wasn't good at, however, was dealing with his emotions about Connie; How he felt about her departure, her return, and just her in general really. Because what he felt was an undeniably strong attraction to her. She was beautiful, obviously. Anyone could tell you that. But she was also selfless, hilariously funny, witty, insanely talented and she had a heart of gold. Her empathy and her desire to help others overwhelmed him. She was a good person. He had tarnished that, and he felt guilty about it. It wasn't supposed to go down this way, him and her. None of this was ever supposed to happen. But sometimes, faith steps in and fucks everything up. They had tried to fight it for as long as they possibly could, they truly had. But once their jobs consisted of making out on set, there was nothing else left to do besides be together. Once they had gotten a taste of what it felt like, there was absolutely no turning back. It was terrifying, like diving into the deepest part of the ocean without knowing if you will ever be able to make it back out again. As it turned out though, neither of them wanted to resurface.

He was laughing with a producer when he suddenly spotted her from across the room. No matter how many people were in a room, they always managed to find each other. They could have conversations with just one look, much like their characters.

He smiled at her, one of his crooked smiles. She smiled back at him. He nudged his head towards a storage closet, never taking his eyes off her. He gazed at her, suddenly serious. It was almost imperceptible, but she nodded at him. He apologized to whoever he was talking to and made his way to the closet first. He entered, turned on the light and waited. It had been months since they had seen each other and he couldn't wait to pick up where they left off. He was craving her so badly: her lips, the way she tasted, his fingers buried in her hair, her smell...But first, they needed to talk. They had argued last time they had seen each other. It was always about the same things: how they couldn't keep falling back into old habits every time she came to town, how they both agreed he couldn't leave his wife for her - he had to do it for himself...but then they also talked about how difficult it had been to be away from each and then somehow, they would end up in bed together or in the back of his truck. It just kind of always happened. So, he knew they needed to have a serious conversation, possibly an argument, but he knew it would probably end with him finally being inside her again.

Connie walked in the closet and shut the door, interrupting his thoughts.

"Hey."

"Hey yourself. It's good to see you. How are things?" He asked.

"...How are things? Things are not great, Chip. I miss you." She replied, her brow furrowed.

"I know, I know. I miss you too. So much. I dream about you almost every night, baby. I was so happy when you said you would be here for this."

"When are you going to leave her, Chip? Your kids are grown. You're as unhappy as ever. I know you've been in this marriage for most of your adult life but damnit, it ended a long time ago. When are you going to face that and finally do what you wanna do?"

He wasn't expecting her to go straight for this.

"Babe..." He pleaded with her.

"No. I've had a lot of time to think while we have been apart and I came in here to tell you that I just can't do this anymore. I may be in town for the next few days and we might have a few scenes to shoot, but you and me are through. We are not having sex in any closets this time."

He looked at her, his face covered in shock. This wasn't the first time she said these kinds of things to him. And yet...

Suddenly, he smirked at her. The closet was small enough as it is and there wasn't much room between them to begin with. He took a small step towards her, tucked her hair behind her earlobe and moved in towards her, slowly. Once his mouth reached her ear, he gently whispered

"Well then...I guess we'll see about that later, won't we."

She closed her eyes and shivered. He placed a hand on her hip as he moved to give her a light kiss on her cheek.

She had rehearsed that entire speech on the plane over there. She thought she had done a good job with it, but why on earth did she agree to meet him in a closet, of all places? That was just dangerous.

She didn't want to do this. The truth was, she never wanted to be away from him. But she was sick and tired of waiting for him to do the right thing. As much as she craved his touch and his mouth on her, she was also plagued with guilt.

Then, he slowly moved his hand from her hip up to her right breast. He gently passed his hand over it. Connie gasped.

Chip moved his head back towards her ear and whispered to her once again.

"Baby...you can't resist me - the same way I can't resist you. I'll see you later." He said, brushing passed her closely to make sure she knew _just_ how much he couldn't resist her.

Damnit. She was fucked. Quite literally


	2. Chapter 2

Connie took a moment to compose herself before leaving the closet. She was flustered and wondering how the hell she was gonna make it back to LA without ending up having sex with Chip. She knew he was getting on a bus to Florida right after the party though, so all she had to do was make it through this. Yoby was with her, so she couldn't exactly just leave with Chip. She walked out of the closet and found Yoby with her friend Alex.

"Hey. Where have you been?" Alex asked.

"Oh, just catching up with some old friends"

"Not...?" Alex gave her a look.

"No no. I told you, I'm done with that."

"Okay, good. Listen, Yoby is falling asleep. I'm gonna take him back to my room with me and have a sleepover. I don't really know these people anyway...You stay. Have fun, enjoy the party."

"Are you sure?" Connie asked, not thrilled at the idea that she could now go anywhere she wanted and could get home at anytime...

"Positive. I've missed the little guy. Seriously, have fun. But you know...not with -

"I know, I know. Got it." Connie interrupted her.

"Okay. See you later tonight then."

"Yes. Bye."

Connie gave her son a kiss and watched as he left with Alex. She turned around and walked over to Judith to talk to her.

She looked around and saw Chip across the room again, talking with Lennon, joking around. He smiled at her then. She avoided his gaze.

"So...Connie...have you seen Chip tonight?"

"What? Why? No."

"Interesting. So, that storage closet must lead to Narnia or something, if you were both in there and managed not to run into each other." She smirked at Connie and smiled while she placed her bottom lip over her upper lip.

"I see that you still never miss a chance to tease me about this. We talked for a minute, yeah."

"About how much you miss ripping each other's clothes off?"

"No! Stop. I'm not starting this again with him." She had a pained look in her eyes.

"Oh hunny. You both deserve to be happy. You're good people who happen to be stuck in a really shitty situation. You can't choose who you fall in love with, you know. You just be careful with that big heart of yours. And his big..."

"Judy!" Connie smacked her shoulder.

Judith just laughed, winked at Connie and walked away to refill her champagne glass.

That was it. She decided that she should just go home now. Why put herself in this situation to begin with? She saw everyone that she wanted to see, she caught up with them, now she should go home.

Just as she was walking out, she received a text message.

"Side door. Walk out, turn left. I have a surprise for you."

It was from Chip. She had to admit, she was curious. She decided to follow his instructions. Her hands were shaking. She kept repeating the same sentence over and over in her mind: Don't give in. Don't stay.

Just as she turned the corner, she saw a huge tour bus. She walked up to it to find Chip sitting on the stairs, a big grin on his face. When he saw the confusion and questions in her eyes, he told her:

"I'm going to Florida later tonight with Sixwire for a gig. They wanted to swing by the party. So they brought the bus over here. Come check it out! They really outdid themselves this time."

Chip got up from the bus' steps, grabbed her hand and helped her on the bus. He gave her a quick tour of the kitchen area, the comfortable seating and the bunks. Then, he stopped when they reached the back of the bus.

"So this is the master suite, huh." said Connie.

"Yeah. Lets have a look." He smiled at her as he slid the door open. She gasped. There were rose petals all over the bed and candles lit all around it. His guitar was resting at the foot of the bed. There was a notepad and a pen on the corner of the bed as well. She couldn't believe it.

"Chip...what the hell..."

He took her hands and lead her into the room.

"Listen. Everything you said to me earlier is true. I'm a coward. I need to get my shit together and figure out what the hell I'm doing. And I know you've already been so patient with me about this and that you deserve the world. I haven't been on a tourbus in a while, and when I found out this one was making it's way here, well...I wanted to show you how much you mean to me. And to be honest, standing in a bus with you reminds me of Rayna and Deacon. And that tour they were supposed to go on but never did because Rayna was too scared something would happen." He chucked then.

"I miss those two. I miss having scenes with you. Imagine all the amazing scenes we could have shot if they had gone on that tour...like Deacon sneaking out of his bunk to meet Rayna in the middle of the night in her bed."

Connie laughed. "That would have been fun. I miss Rayna and Deacon too, babe. So much. But we can't go back..."

He interrupted her then. "You know how Deacon's songs are all about Rayna? Well damnit Connie, most of my songs are about you. Whiskey Lips...Pretend It Isn't there...They are all about you, baby. I don't know if you've heard any of my new ones but..."

"Of course I have. You don't think I keep up with you?" She whispered then. "I've heard them. I kinda figured..."

"Well, they are. We got a few hours before I have to leave. I saw Alex leave with Yobs. And I need some new material. So I brought my guitar, and I figured...maybe you and I could catch up. Because these are the things that songs are written about, damnit. The ache I have for you, the way it hurts so damn much when I think about you and how you aren't here anymore, the way I need you baby..."

He takes a few steps towards her and takes her face in his hands.

"I know you need me too. I know you have that same ache when you think of me. And I know we have a lot of things to discuss and I need to take action and do what needs to be done, the right way. But right now, all we have is tonight. If you wanna leave, you can. I just...I thought you might reconsider what you said earlier."

He backed away from her so she could clear her mind and think about what she was going to do. He sat on the edge of the bed, waiting.

She thought about leaving. Part of her wanted to leave - the part of her that had been screaming at her that this was so wrong for years now. Sometimes, that part of her was overwhelming.

But that was not the part of her that was screaming at her right now. Right now, it was a _very_ different part of her. He was right about one thing. They only had tonight. They had no idea when they were going to see each other again, or in how long that would be. And damnit, she did want him, need him, miss him...She _was_ strong enough to turn around and leave - she always had been. The truth was, she never want to. She wanted him. Despite everything, she did. She wanted him more than anything else in this world.

He looked up at her, hopeful. He was wearing a black button down shirt and dark jeans. He looked gorgeous, as usual. She gave him a huge smile, and just as he sighed of relief, she turned around and walked out of the room and slid the door closed.

He gasped, his mouth hanging open.

He really thought...

Just as he was about to despair, she slid the door open, walked back in and stood right in front of him, smirking at him.

"You little shit." He said to her.

She laughed.

"Sorry. I couldn't help it. You know I love messing with you."

"Yeah...well I love messing with these" -

He pulled her arm down and she fell on top of him and he went straight for her boobs. She giggled.

He moved her silky hair out of her face and kissed her tenderly.

"I love you so much, baby."

"I can't believe you did all this for me." Connie replied.

"Well. It's mostly for me. I wasn't kidding - I really do wanna write a new song..." He smirked at her, and she swat at his shoulder as he laughed.

"Hmmm...what will you write about tonight?" She asked, as she took off her shirt, revealing her lacy burgundy bra.

He gasped.

"How you take my breath away. Every damn time I see you. Every time I touch you. Every time you kiss me..."

She bent down then, and kissed him.

He was so happy to have her in his arms again. It always felt like he was exactly where he was supposed to be in this world when he was with her.

"I love you too" she whispered to him before kissing his neck. They were gonna make the most of the time they had tonight.


End file.
